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After the man-child is raptured to the throne of God, there is war in heaven, Satan and his angels are cast down to the earth, and the kingdom of God is manifested—Rev. 12:5, 7-11:
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The man-child consists of the overcomers, who stand on behalf of the church, take the position that the whole church should take, and do the work of the church—2:7b, 11b; 12:5:
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The man-child is always engaged in fighting against God’s enemy, Satan, continually on earth.
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Heaven is waiting for the man-child, the overcomers, to arrive so that a war may be waged to cast Satan out of heaven:
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The war waged by the overcoming believers against Satan is actually the executing of the Lord’s judgment upon him—John 12:31.
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Eventually, through their fighting, Satan is cast out of heaven—Rev. 12:8-9.
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The devil, the accuser, is now accusing the believers before God day and night, but the overcoming believers who constitute the man-child and who have been opposed and slandered by God’s enemy, Satan, overcome him—vv. 10-11:
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They overcome him “because of the blood of the Lamb”—v. 11a:
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The blood of the Lamb, which is for our redemption, answers before God all the accusations of the devil against us and gives us the victory over him.
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We need to apply this blood whenever we sense the accusation of the devil—Rom. 3:25; 1 John 1:7.
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They overcome him “because of the word of their testimony”—Rev. 12:11b:
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The word of their testimony is their word that testifies that the devil has been judged by the Lord—John 12:31; Heb. 2:14.
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Whenever we sense the devil’s accusation, we should declare with the uttered word the Lord’s victory over him.
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The overcomers do not love their soul-life—Rev. 12:11c:
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Not loving our soul-life is the basis for overcoming Satan, for our victory over Satan.
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Not loving our soul-life means that we are willing to give up our own soul-life and that we do not care for our own soul-life—Mark 8:34-35.
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Satan is afraid of only one kind of people—those who do not love their own soul-life—Rev. 12:11c.
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The man-child is related to God’s most important dispensational move—Matt. 6:9-10; Rev. 11:15; 12:10:
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God wants to end this age and bring in the age of the kingdom, and for this He must have the man-child as His dispensational instrument—v. 5.
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The rapture of the man-child brings an end to the church age and introduces the age of the kingdom—vv. 5, 10.
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The rapture of the man-child to the throne of God, the casting of Satan to the earth, and the declaration in heaven signify that the man-child will bring the kingdom to the earth; this is God’s greatest dispensational move—vv. 5, 9-10; 11:15.
Morning Nourishment
Rev. 12:5 And she brought forth a son, a man-child, who is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their soul-life even unto death.
Immediately after the man-child is raptured to heaven, a war commences with Michael and his angels against Satan. This indicates that the man-child, the stronger part of God’s people, is always engaged in fighting God’s enemy, Satan. The overcomers have been fighting Satan continually, even unto death, and have defeated him on earth. But heaven is still waiting for them to arrive there so that a war may be waged to cast Satan out of heaven.
The Lord has shown us the most effective way to defeat the enemy. What we need to do is to take the covenant, the word of God, and preach to Satan regarding what the Lord has accomplished for us. For example, whenever we were troubled by our temper in the past, we firstly confessed it, then asked the Lord for forgiveness, prayed to the Lord to help us, and finally made up our mind never to lose our temper again. I experienced this many times. But we should not do this anymore. When our temper is aroused, we should forget it and preach to Satan. Go to the source of the problem—Satan—and preach to him, saying, “Satan, you have been crucified on the cross.” The more you preach to Satan, the more you will be released. (Life-study of Revelation, p. 450)
Today’s Reading
When the man-child is delivered and is raptured to the throne, he will say, “Satan, you were defeated by me on earth. Are you still here hiding in the heavens? Now I have come here to preach to you! Don’t you remember the messages I gave you on earth?”….Then the man-child will say, “Satan, you should no longer be here! Get out!” As soon as this word is uttered by the man-child, Michael the archangel will lead all his angels to war against the dragon. After the executor gives the word, all the policemen will come to carry it out. God is waiting in the heavens for this executor. Who will be the executor? We, the man-child. Let us go there to preach to Satan. Before we can do this, however, we must first defeat him on earth. After defeating Satan on earth, we shall fight upward to heaven, and eventually we shall fight downward to earth. Now as we confront Satan, we must give him many messages. Later we shall go to the heavens, meet him there, and preach to him again. Then after he has been cast down to earth to damage it, we shall descend and say to him, “Satan, are you still here? Let me give you another sermon. Now is the time for you to go to the abyss.” Then after the millennium there will be the fourth sermon given to Satan. At that time, Satan will instigate mankind to rebel against God. But we shall say, “Satan, listen to us. This is our last sermon. Now you must go to your destination—the lake of fire.”If you would be qualified to participate in this, you must fight now. Do not be indifferent. I hope that after you read this message you will give a strong word to the enemy, saying, “Satan, you have deceived me for years. But by reading these messages my eyes have been opened and I see that I must no longer be indifferent. Satan, you are not only God’s enemy—you are also my enemy. From now on, I will be absolute for my Lord and I will never listen to you.”… If you preach to Satan like this, you will become another person and will probably soon be included in the stronger part of the woman. Begin now to be qualified, equipped, and perfected to be among those who will be raptured to heaven to execute judgment upon Satan. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 450-451)
Further Reading: Life-study of Revelation, msgs. 35-36, 38-39, 45; CWWN, vol. 34, “The Glorious Church,” ch. 4; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 22, 139, 421